We can suppose that some monotonous routine in life is strictly necessary. The trouble with the legal profession is that it too often needlessly smothers the life out of the law and its practice. Let’s talk now about two of the biggest ways this happens. They’re a good place to start because their delaying dynamic is central to our courts: the billable hour and the misdirection of law clerk talent.

Consider the plight of billable hourly lawyers first. The unconscious incentive of a system that bills most for the most hours — unsurprisingly — is to rack up large bills. Too often, billable hourly lawyers find themselves crafting case strategies around billable bits — drafting or responding to the ever-expanding complaint, creating, serving, debating, briefing, arguing and re-serving deep doses of discovery. Moving and maneuvering. Saber rattling and settling, rather than righting wrongs against the good or thwarting the malevolent designs of the wicked.